The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

November 10, 2008 - 3B

The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom November 10, 2008 - 3B

NANOOKS
* From Page 1B
phenomenal. He made the big
saves. I think he was the differ-
ence-maker for us."
The two goals Hogan allowed
came on Alaska power plays,
which was surprising considering
the Nanooks' had a paltry 5-for-56
success rate going into the game.
Alaska went 2-for-4 on the man
advantage Saturday, a stat that
speaks to the weakness of the Wol-
verines' penalty kill.
"It worries me,"Michigan coach
Red Berenson said. "It's a little bit
of everything. It depends on who's
tired and who's in the penalty box.
I can't tell you if it was any one
player's fault, but we broke down
too easily."
Michigan'sspecialteams,which
Berenson has labeled a "work in
progress" all season, benefited
from a series with few penalties.
The Wolverines stayed out of the
box entirely on Friday night, and
were called for just four penalties
Saturday.
Still, Michigan (4-2-0 CCHA,
7-3-0 overall) battled back. Its
earlyleadcamefromapoke-ingoal
by freshman David Wohlberg, but
that evaporated with Alaska's first
powrer play goal midway through
the first period.
Then, as Hogan deflected,
trapped and caught every puck
headed in his direction in the sec-
ond frame, a trio of talented Wol-
verines gave the team the spark it
desperatelyneeded.
With 6:09 remaining in the sec-
ond,juniorcaptainChrisSummers
sent the puck from the defensive
zone to sophomore forward Aaron
* Palushaj, who passed the puck to
sophomore center Louie Capo-
russo. He rushed up the right side

of the ice toward Nanook goalie
Chad Johnson, Caporusso made a
move on Johnson's stick side and
poked the puck in the wide-open
glove side.
"It was huge," Berenson said.
"Your best players have to he your
best players in these games."
Caporusso leads the team in
scoring with nine goals this sea-
son. His lamp-lighter was the top
line's lone goal for the weekend.
A minute into the third period,
junior forward Brian Lebler tacked
on the eventual game-winner on a
spinning, no-look, power-play goal
from in front of the right post.
"Lebler's was a loose puck ip
front," Berenson said. "We weren't
winning any of those (Friday) in
front of the net."
The Wolverines' responded
after Friday night's loss. Turnbull
said everything was different on
Saturday when emotions, inten-
sity and physical play returned
to the ice. The defensemen had
their sticks in the right positions
to breakup passes and block shots,
and Michigan didn't let up goals in
spurts as it often has this season.
The win salvaged the weekend
for the Wolverines. But Berenson
knows his team was capable of a
sweep over the Nanooks (3-3-0,
5-4-1).
"One minute of the game Friday
ruined the weekend," he said. "We
had the lead up until then, and
then one minute, two goals - bang
- we never gotthe goal back. That
makes the difference. Every shift
is important. You never know the
shift that might decide the game."
But on Saturday, all of Michi-
gan's shifts Oyere a fight. All the
defensemen dove to keep pucks
in the offensive zone. All the for-
wards fought against the boards
for the puck. And one player in net
gave the Wolverines a chance to
hang on to a one-goal lead.

JEREMY CHO/Dail
Freshman David Wohlberg, shown here against Niagara, was a big factor in Michigan's weekend series against Alaska. He collected two goals against the Nanooks.
No flash, no proble m:
Wohlberg finds .the net

SAID A LSALA H/Daly
Sophomore Lexi Zimmerman, shown here against Minnesota, collected 61 assists
and surpassed the 1,000-assist mark for the season over the past weekend.
M' earns 20th win
of season, again
By MARK BURNS much early," junior outside hitter
Daily Sports Writer Juliana Paz said.
Rosen's team had a dismal
Sophomore setter Lexi Zim- attack percentage of .021 during
merman and the Michigan volley- the first frame.
ball team were "out for blood" this But the Wolverines bounced
week- back in set two thanks to the quick
end. MICHIGAN 3 decision-making of Zimmerman
The WISCONSIN 1 and timely hitting by Michigan's
team outside hitters.
sought redemption after losing "Changing the match went
two tough road matches last week- to Lexi," Rosen said. "She did a
end against Illinois and Purdue. good job as the match went on of
The 20th-ranked Wolverines establishing some offense, creat-
picked up two huge wins at home ing situations for her hitters to get
on. Friday and Saturday against comfortable and then she rode the
Northwestern and Wisconsin, hot hitters."
giving them 20 wins for the third Michigan won the second set
straight season. 28-26.
Michigan (8-6 Big Ten, 20-6 Freshman outside hitter Alex
overall) opened up the weekend Hunt led the Wolverine offensive
with a convincing sweep over resurgence with six kills in the
Northwestern (25-21,25-21, 25-18). frame while senior middle blocker
After a sluggish start against Beth Karpiak had five kills of her
the Wildcats (2-12, 8-17), Michigan own.
settled down and started connect- Michigan came out of the lock-
ing on its attacks and made quality er room looking for its first win
passes. against the Badgers since 2005.
"We just got out of sync with "We were able to shift the
our services and everything just momentum in set two, and then it
started snowballing," Michigan puts them on their heels," Rosen
coach Mark Rosen said. "They just said. "We competed well at the end
needed to relax and get back into of games this weekend. If you're at
our system." the end of a deuce-game and it's
Junior libero Megan Bower led back and forth, you've got to have
the Wolverines with 13 kills Fri- a lot of belief in your game."
day while Zimmerman added 36 After a hard-fought 28-26 vic-
assists. tory in the third frame, the Wol-
Then came the showdown with verines looked to clinch the match
Wisconsin (6-8, 16-10). The last and end Wisconsin's hopes of forc-
time out against the Badgers on ing a fifth set.
Oct. 3, Michigan was up 2-0 in the The Wolverines sealed the deal,
match and looked like it had the winning the final set 25-19. Cliff
contest in hand. Keen Arena erupted after the last
Three sets later, the Wolverines point, with the Michigan players
were on the losing end of a five-set jumping up and down after the
heartbreaker. huge victory.
. On Saturday night, Michigan Michigan had three players
needed to forget about that loss with double-digit kills. Hunt led
in1 Madison and start off on the the team with 20 while Karpiak
right track. and Paz each had 18 for the match.
Midway through the first set, Zimmerman led the Wolverines
the wheels started to fall off, with 61 assists, giving her more
and everything was going wrong than 1,000 for the season.
for the Wolverines. Michigan Zimmerman will need to lead
dropped the first set to the Bad- the Michigan offensive attack next
gers, 25-18. week as the Wolverines square off
"We came out a little tentative against Ohio State and Michigan
and that may have been because State, two teams that have given
we wanted this match so bad that the Michigan offense trouble in
we were trying to do a little too previous matches this season.

Versatile freshman
emerges as team's
third scoring option
BY MICHAEL EISENSTEIN
Daily Sports-Editor
FAIRBANKS - The Michigan
hockey team has relied on two scor-
ers this season: sophomore top-
liners Louie Caporusso and Aaron
Palushaj.
Caporusso has nine goals this
season, and Palushaj has seven, but
freshman David Wohlberg, with
three goals in the last three games,'
appears to be a third scorer in the
mix for the Wolverines.
Unlikethesophomores,Wohlberg's
goals aren't the result of jaw-dropping
dekes or blistering wristshots.
"He's been opportunistic, in
terms of he's finding loose pucks
and he's found out places wherever
the puck is," Michigan coach Red
Berenson said. "He's using some
good puck sense."
He's played a crucial part in
Michigan's recent offensive ignition
- and that began a week ago against
Ohio State.
Wohlberg came to Michigan as
a center and anchored the team's
fourth line at the beginning of the

season. But last Friday against the
Buckeyes, he moved to left wing to
try to spark some chemistry on the
third-line with fellow freshman
Robbie Czarnik, his U.S. National
Team Development Program team-
mate for the last two years.
The experiment was short-lived,
however, as Wohlberg was promot-
ed to the second line the next night
to replace left winger Carl Hagelin,
who shifted to center while sopho-
more Matt Rust sat out with an
injury.
Then, nearly halfway through
the second period, Wohlberg jump-
started a four-minute, three-goal
explosion. Wohlberg's score, the
first of his career, was Michigan's
first shorthanded tally of the sea-
son.
The game was Michigan's best
offensive performance of the sea-
son.
Despite providing the spark,
Wohlberg spent most of the week-
end adjusting to his new position
and two different sets of linemates.
Against Alaska, though, Beren-
son kept Wohlberg on the second
line with a healthy Rust at center
and senior Travis Turnbull at right
wing.
And they just started rolling.
"Now he's playing with two little
more experienced players than he

was earlier," Berenson said. "We
had him on center and we had him
on the wing, and right now I think
(wing) is a good fit for him."
It has been a particularly good fit
for Turnbull, who assisted on both
of Wohlberg's game-opening goals
this weekend against the Nanooks.
"You don't score goals unless
you're working hard," Turnbull said
of Wohlberg. "He's going to those
tough areas where you need to be
to score goals. He's going to the net
(and) he's working hard."
Although Michigan was unable to
maintain the early lead it had from

Wohlberg's goal on Friday, his score
Saturday gave the Wolverines an
advantage they would never relin-
quish in their 3-2 win.
And during a weekend in which
the top line mustered just one goal,
Wohlberg was just the boost the
Michigan offense needed.
"(I) feel pretty good about it,"
Wohlberg said, referring to his goal
streak. "My line has a lot to do with
it. We're working hard down low,
and that's what's causing alot of the
chances, and I've just been lucky to
finish on a couple of them.
"I guess I'm just feeling it."

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